What do you do all winter?

"What do you do all winter?"  Is a question often asked of me when people find out what I do for a living.  Some are curious, others think the golf course is closed and I get the whole winter off. 
Winter is probably the hardest season to work through.  The weather is hard on crew moral and they dig dip to keep pushing forward.  You never know what the day is going to bring, we must be willing to change course at the mercy of Mother Nature.

So what did we do all winter?  As we make a push to complete all of our winter projects before the calendar turns to aerification, I want to reflect on what we accomplished.


Six additional mats were added to the turf strip at the driving range The popularity of these mats showed a need to add more space.  Limited space due to underground irrigation pipe, made six a perfect fit.  With 16 total mats available 4 groups can warm up before making their way to the first tee.

Before the mats can be added, the subgrade must be installed.  A four inch thick slab of concrete is poured on top of a 6 inch thick bed of gravel to provide a stable base. 

The mat system is very similar to a floating floor.  A plastic frame snaps together and is anchored to the concrete at proper dimensions to provide the border that the mats sit within.  Setting the first corner is the most important step in getting the border correct.

 

Once the border is set, the crew gets to work making it fit into the space.  The tedious task of setting and leveling every brick shows the crews attention to detail.

 

As always the staff did a great job working together to produce a great finished product.

 

 

Tree removal continued to be a point of emphasis this winter.  The picture below was posted to twitter last fall by a fellow Superintendent, showing the affect of trees on a plants inability to grow to its full potential in a less than ideal environment. 

If a tree can have this much affect on a corn plant that grows to over eight feet tall, imagine its affect on a plant maintained at less than one half of an inch?  (Greens are mowed at .140" and tees at .325") 

 

 

Trees do have their place in golf, but a balance has to be made between their necessity and impact on turf quality and expectations. 

 

 

This picture is beautiful in so many ways, the sun, the shadows, the clouds, and contrasting light and dark.  From a turf managers perspective those dark spots are troubling for the overall health of the sixth green.

 

Trees were removed to the right of the fifth green to increase the duration of morning sunlight.

 

The picture below is the fifth green from a different angle post tree removal.  (It has been hard to get a picture with the green under full sun this winter.)

 

 

Other tree removal and cleanup is aesthetic.  The area right of 17 green was cleaned out, opening a view to 16 fairway.

 

 

 

 

Safety is a reason to remove trees.  A big leaf maple behind 10 green was removed due to a large crack that had developed in the trunk.  Luckily this was discovered and before anyone or anything was damaged.

 

 

 

Wet areas throughout the course were identified and the issue were addressed when possible.  This area on the right side of the fourth fairway had an excessive thatch layer preventing proper water infiltration. 

 

The first step is removing the sod, opening up the layer of thatch that is causing the problem.  The layer is removed and replaced with sand to help water, nutrient, and oxygen exchange into the profile.

 

The soil below this layer is usually dry.  The small pores of the thatch layer limit water movement into the sand below resulting in excessive surface moisture. 

We have seen better results (almost instantly) from removing the thatch layer than by adding additional drainage to the existing subsurface drainage.

 

Improving cart drive-on areas has also been a point of emphasis with the same strategy.  Decreasing the time it takes these areas to dry down, increases the number of days cart can be on course and also improve the turves ability to withstand cart traffic.

 

The color of the clay indicates it holds water more than half the year, known as gleying.  Gleying is the saturation of the soil profile where water replaces air in available pore space.  An increase in water, limits drainage resulting in an anerobic (lack of oxygen) environment which is a poor environment to grow grass.

 

We recently completed a renovation of the bunkers on #17.  This has been a project each winter to improve the aesthetic appeal of the bunkers throughout the course.

 



 

The crew did a great job of getting this project completed and we are really happy with the finished product.

 

 

I am excited for what 2016 has in store.  The crew has worked extremely hard, through record rain, improving areas throughout the course in preparation for summer.  I believe this hard work and dedication will pay off for the upcoming season.